Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said Wednesday, July 20, 2022, that he will be asking this question to health workers of various municipalities and cities in the province during their virtual meeting on Friday about their anti-dengue campaign.
Lacson said he decided to conduct the meeting since many local government units (LGUs) still have no anti-dengue task force.
Provincial Health Officer Ernell Tumimbang earlier urged the city and municipal health offices in Negros Occidental to activate their anti-dengue task force.
This, amid the continued increase in the number of cases of the mosquito-borne disease in the province, he said.
As of July 9, 2022, dengue cases in Negros Occidental were already at 2,096 or about 823 percent higher than last year with only 227 cases, the Department of Health in Western Visayas said.
The province now has the highest number of dengue cases in the entire region, the line agency added.
Lacson said the campaign against dengue cannot be done by the provincial government alone.
“We could have done better,” he said, as he noted that they set-aside P2.7 million for the purchase of larvicide this year in response to the growing dengue cases.
Lacson added that the current state of dengue cases in the province does not mean that local chief executives are not interested in addressing the problem.
On Monday, the governor dismissed ideas of placing Negros Occidental under the state of calamity due to the rising dengue cases considering that the province has sufficient budget to combat the disease.